Sustainability in the Spotlight: A Look Inside the Green Filming Practices of the TV Industry
The entertainment industry can be wasteful. Since climate change is a big topic around the globe, television and content makers are looking for green ways of production. It's natural for young people to adopt green filming strategies in their work from the beginning. That's why our CME CONTENT ACADEMY students had many practical workshops about Green filming concepts and the Albert certification.
Why should we care about Albert?
If you stay long for the subtitles, you might have seen the logo at the end of many TV programs from TV Nova. Certification declares reduced carbon footprint during filming. Albert certification was founded in 2010 to provide a carbon calculator for the TV and movie industry.
Many broadcasters promised to change their ways of thinking, planning, and filming. And not just by reducing waste during TV production but also with more climate content on screens.
Think green before creating your show
The obvious option is to consume fewer plastic-wrapped meals and drink water from a reusable bottle. Use every car to its capacity or even use a train. Go paperless. Nothing wrong with that, but you can do more if you start implying green thinking since development.
Search for a consultant with a green filming background from early-stage development. They will help you create a good set of rules, develop your idea into a more ecological concept, and set the roadmap for the next steps during preproduction and production.
Content matters
Help to spread climate-friendly ideas not just
through your actions but also content. Show your viewer themes that are important to you. It can be a storyline about a meat-free Monday, a narrative about more responsible consumption of goods, or an episode of the show with a staycation instead of a holiday abroad.
"Good show narrates a story about real life. Climate change is part of our world. If you leave it out of the story, you're bending reality," explains Hana de Goeij, Head of Sustainable Filming and Content at TV Nova.
Choose open-minded team
Be careful about the people you are choosing to enter your team. Your director may be superb, but if they don't believe in climate change, they can tell your story in a different light. For example, the Sustainable Filming and Content team had an idea to use a reusable sachet for bread in an episode of a long-running series. The director wasn't familiar with this product. He laughed "it looks like a shoe bag," and refused to use the prop. The story still worked, but the climate content was not there.
You can brief your team before production to prevent such situations. Labeling the project green set also helps to set the tone.
Would you like to learn more? You can experience the same internship as our students. CME CONTENT ACADEMY is an educational program for TV NOVA and TV Markíza based on original approaches focusing on TV content, storytelling, and technology. Our doors are open to new talents. Admission for the third course begins in spring 2023, so you have plenty of time to work on your submission.
Author: Kristina Sverkunova